How to show battery percentage on your iPhone

Your iPhone will show the current status of your battery in the upper-left corner of the screen with an indicator that will be white when the battery is being drained and green when the battery is charging. But what if you want more precise information from your device? It’s easier than you might think to view your battery percentage on your iPhone and iPad, and we’ll show you how to do it.

How to show battery percentage on iPhone X and later

Michael Archambault/Digital Trends

If you have an iPhone X or newer, accessing your battery percentage is a cinch. Note that due to the design of the new iPhone SE (2020), these steps do not apply; if you have a new iPhone SE released in 2020, check the instructions later on in this article for older devices. Additionally, iPad and iPod Touch users should also reference the instructions given for older devices due to their layouts.

Step 1: Swipe down from the top-right corner of your display to open Control Center.

Step 2: View the battery percentage that is now displayed in the top-right corner.

Unfortunately, there is no way at this time to keep the battery percentage always displayed on modern Apple iPhones. You will always need to open ControlCenter to view the percentage; this is due to the limitation of screen real estate caused by the display’s notch.

How to show battery percentage on older devices (and iPad)

Michael Archambault/Digital Trends

If you have an older Apple device such as an iPhone 8 or earlier, you can follow these steps to show your battery percentage in your status bar. iPhone SE and iPad owners can also use these steps to show the battery percentage since neither has the display notch that iPhone X and later devices showcase.

Step 1: Open the Settings app.

Step 2: Select the Battery option.

Step 3: Tap to enable BatteryPercentage.

Now, your Apple device will show the battery percentage at all times in the top-right corner of your screen. To reverse this effect, follow the settings given above once more. Note that when you use Low Power mode on older devices and iPad tablets, the battery percentage will always show — follow the steps below to learn more about this setting.

How to enable Low Power mode for iPhone

Michael Archambault/Digital Trends

If you want to save battery life on your device, you can enable Low Power Mode, which also has the benefit of showing the battery percentage in the top-right corner of older Apple devices (the iPhone 8 and earlier), as well as the iPhone SE. Low Power mode will not show the battery status on iPhone X and later devices. This feature is not available on the iPad.

By enabling Low Power Mode, your device will disable the following features: email fetching, hands-free Siri, background app refreshing, automatic downloads, and iCloud Photos uploading. Additionally, some visual effects will be disabled, and auto-lock will now default to 30-seconds. When Low Power mode is active, your battery icon will display as yellow.

Step 1: Open the Settings app.

Step 2: Select the Battery option.

Step 3: Select Low Power Mode.

Note, if you have Low Power Mode added to your Control Center, you can swipe down from the top of the screen to access it. Control Center can be customized by going to Settings > Control Center > CustomizeControls — from here, you can add the Low Power Mode button.